Melting Hesitation
by sleapyGazelle
Summary: When a joint mission brings Keith and Lance closer together, they decide to keep things under wraps, at least until they figure things out for themselves. Inspired by "universe won't wait for you" by agrestenoir (ao3). Written for the VLD Fanfic Remix 2017.


"YES!" Lance pumped his fist in the air and turned to Keith. "Did you see that?"

Keith couldn't help the fond smile. "Yes, Lance. Good job."

"Good job? Dude, I just took out like fifty sentries without a single extra shot. That's like, a new sharpshooting record!"

"It was more like ten, but okay." Keith wouldn't admit it, but he was impressed. The two of them had been dispatched onto a mission to help a planet fight off some Galra presence. They'd arrived in their lions and had already taken out the small fleet of fighters, with Lance having just shot down the few footsentries that remained with his sniper rifle. Keith's eyes were drawn to Lance's slight shoulders, taut as he aimed his bayard looking for any stragglers.

Clearing his throat because he had better things to do than ogle Lance, Keith turned to make his way back into the open field. Galra forces defeated, it was time to shake hands with the king and fly back to the Castle. But he barely got to his feet before more soldiers stepped out of the shadows.

"Lance."

"Yeah I'm coming." His teammate whirled around and, "Oh."

They were surrounded.

Keith drew his bayard and heard Lance charge up his. The next few minutes were a blur as Keith swung his sword through metal and flesh alike. Blaster fire whizzed around him as Lance took on his share of the enemy.

Lance whooped as the last of them fell. Keith turned to him with a victorious grin, and before he knew what was happening, Lance bounded toward him. Smile glinting with the high of victory, Lance closed the distance between them and smashed their mouths together.

Lance was... in his arms. Lance was kissing him. Hands gripping Keith's face, Lance poured his excitement into the kiss. Before Keith could get his bearings, much less respond, Lance was breaking away.

"We did it!" he shouted, hands now falling to rest on Keith's shoulders. Then he must've seen Keith's blown-wide eyes or his rising blush, because he pulled his hands back and stepped away, his own expression now matching Keith's.

"Um," Keith searched for words.

But Lance looked to be faring worse, fighting a violent blush, his eyes anywhere but on Keith.

Keith didn't know what it was about seeing Lance reduced to a flustered mess that gave him back the confidence to speak. "So uh, what are we?"... Well, at least he was more coherent than Lance.

Keith's words pulled Lance out from behind his own hands. He gave Keith one mortified look before _booking it_ back toward the lions.

"Lance, wait!" Keith ran after him but it was too late. Lance was already being greeted by the king and royal aides.

Keith took a breath and joined him. Together they accepted the king's thanks and spoke diplomatic niceties as if they hadn't just _kissed_ a minute ago. Keith turned the word over in his mind: Kiss. He'd never expected Lance to... But now that it had happened, Keith admitted to himself that he'd always wished for it.

Okay he was getting ahead of himself. Keith chanced a glance at Lance; he looked a bit more relaxed, the distractions of diplomacy likely taking some of the edge off. Keith sighed, grumbling to himself. He could wait, he guessed.

Back in their lions, Keith resisted the urge to open up a comm channel and _confront_ Lance. He didn't want Lance to crash the lion before giving Keith an explanation. And also, he'd rather do it face to face. The confrontation that is.

When they landed in their hangars and got out, they realized it was late and everyone else was asleep. All the better. Keith would have Lance to himself. To talk.

"Lance?"

"Look I'm sorry. I don't know what that was. I was just celebrating us beating those guys. I know the last thing you want is—"

"Lance."

"No, honestly! I'm not gonna make things weird between us. Please don't hold this against—"

"Lance!"

He finally looked Keith in the eyes, and Keith held the contact.

"You kissed me," Keith stated, unable to see what was so confusing about the situation. It was plain as day to him.

"Well, you kissed back!" Lance's voice rose defensively.

"Because I like you." He couldn't believe he was saying this to the most annoying person he'd ever met but, such was life.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Do, uh," he cleared his throat, "do you like me?"

"I—" Why was Lance squeaking? "I don't— I mean— You're my rival! We're like..."

Watching Lance tripping over himself, Keith stepped closer. "Well did you like kissing me?"

Lance buried his face in his hands and mumbled something.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

Lance splayed his fingers to peek at him. "Yes," he admitted.

Keith felt a sappy flutter in his chest. This boy was not good for his health. He tried not to look too smug as he crept closer and leaned in. "We could do it again," he whispered, unsure where this confidence was coming from.

Lance's thoughts seemed to be trailing in a similar direction, because he dropped his hands, blue eyes fixed on Keith's lips.

They met each other halfway. Lance tasted of melting hesitation. And Keith was already addicted.

Too soon Lance broke away, breathless. "What does this mean?"

Keith snorted. "That's what I asked you before."

"I don't know! Are we boyfriends?"

"We _were_ making out just now."

"Oh my god." Lance made to pull away, but Keith kept his hold on his waist.

"Do you want to be?"

"Do _you_?"

Yes? That's what people did when they kissed wasn't it? They got together.

But he and Lance weren't like most people. After months of wondering why Lance seemed to hate him so much, Keith was still coming to terms with the idea that he might've just liked him all along. His own attraction was something he'd never nursed any hope for, because he wasn't stupid. Why hope for something that wasn't possible? Except now, it was totally possible, and Keith didn't know what to think.

Lance read into Keith's hesitation. "See? It's just weird. What will everyone think?"

Well that was easily solved. "We don't have to tell them."

Lance's eyes widened. "That's... actually true."

Keith rolled his eyes. "So can we go back to kissing now?"

He silenced Lance's resulting squeak with exactly that.

* * *

"All I'm hearing is that you doubt my amazing sharpshooting skills."

Keith and Lance made their way into the kitchen, bickering after an early morning sparring session. Keith was glad to note that the new... _developments_ in their relationship didn't hinder their casual back-and-forth.

But he hadn't anticipated that the rest of the team's—mostly Pidge's—occasional teasing would be much harder to shrug off now.

So when she called them an old married couple, Keith couldn't really blame Lance for his sputtering. He wasn't playing it any cooler himself.

Somehow they made it through breakfast, sneaking secret glances at each other around sporkfuls of food goo when they thought no one was looking. They even got some convincing insults in for the sake of their cover.

After breakfast, Keith was making his way back to his room when Lance cornered him, crowding him against the wall.

"Hey," Keith grinned.

Lance's eyes were intense. "I thought they'd never shut up." He couldn't seem to wait for his own sentence to finish before he dipped his head to kiss Keith's neck. When he lifted his head to move to Keith's other side, Lance continued, "Do you think they know?"

Keith had to drag his mind away from Lance's attentive mouth to answer. "I don't think so." His voice came out breathy, and he knotted his fingers in Lance's hair, tilting his head to the side to give him better access. "It just sounded like the usual teasing."

"It felt different somehow," Lance mumbled against Keith's collarbone.

"Because _we're_ different now."

Lance lifted his head to look at Keith in surprise, then grinned happily before returning to the task at hand.

Keith's knees nearly gave out.

* * *

Alarms blared, and Keith couldn't have had worse timing. Scrambling out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around himself and dashed out of his room, ready to suit up and roll out. But what he saw in the hallway gave him pause. Lance. Dripping wet. In nothing but a towel around his waist.

He lost his sense of time as the seconds ticked on but he didn't move, eyes trailing the path of a water droplet as it fell from Lance's bangs onto his forehead, down his nose and onto his chest. Then Lance started walking forward, and Keith's eyes snapped back to his face.

Lance approached and reached out a hand, skin wrinkled from the water, and brushed Keith's collarbone. The touch was reverent, but the look in Lance's eyes was hungry.

"We can't do this right now," Keith muttered to himself. As much as it disappointed him to say it—especially when faced with his thirsty, half-naked almost-boyfriend—duty called. He gave Lance a smile full of regret and promise before turning and dashing toward the hangars to get his armor. A moment later, Lance's footsteps started up behind him.

They got to the control room all suited up, only to find a frazzled Allura and Coran fussing with the screens. There was no sign of the others.

"What's going on," Keith asked.

Allura, voice pitched high with anger or irritation, or maybe both, told them that someone had rigged the alarms.

Keith tried pressing her for more details, but she curtly told him to go back to whatever he'd been doing before. He was about to ask her not to misdirect her anger at him, when he felt an insistent tugging at his elbow. _Right_. Priorities.

"Uh, okay then. Lance and I will just... go." He followed Lance out, pace as close to a run without being suspicious.

Once they were safely out of view of the control room, Keith wrapped his arm around Lance's waist and pulled him close, planting a kiss behind his ear. Lance's skin was still damp from the shower, smelling like the vaguely floral castle soap.

Lance hummed his appreciation and turned in Keith's arms. "Not here," he muttered, lacing their fingers together before stepping away and pulling Keith toward his room.

With the door securely closed, they were on each other in an instant, mouths occupied and hands exploring. Pieces of the paladin armor clattered to the floor as they felt their way along the hard and soft planes covered by their bodysuits.

Keith lost sense of time again.

* * *

"Hey so I've been thinking," Lance said from under Keith. They were on Keith's bed, fooling around after hours.

"Hmm?" Keith mumbled, busy marking Lance's skin at a spot just under what his shirt would cover.

"Maybe we should—" He sucked in a breath when Keith bit down, then cleared his throat and tried again. "Maybe we should tell the others."

Keith paused his ministrations and settled down, resting his head on Lance's bare chest. "Are you sure? It's been fun seeing them plot and plan."

Keith felt Lance's laugh a moment before it bubbled out. "Yeah, I can't believe they're trying to set us up." He covered his face in his hands and laughed some more at the absurdity.

Keith batted at Lance's chest, trying to get him to lie still. How was he supposed to rest his head with Lance shaking with laughter.

With a final sigh, Lance stilled, hand coming up to card through Keith's hair. "So what do you think?"

Lance expected Keith to think with his hands in his hair like that? "Hmm?"

Lance tugged softly and Keith bit back a moan. "About telling them."

"Yeah whenever you want." He was proud of how nonchalant he sounded when his heart felt like it would bound right out of his chest. But when Lance sat up to reverse their positions with a knowing smirk, Keith remembered that keeping his tone neutral meant nothing when they were close enough for Lance to _feel_ his heart's erratic truth. With an embarrassed grin, he wrapped his arms around Lance's neck and surrendered.

"Sneaking around was fun," Lance admitted, settling comfortably on top of Keith. "But you know what'll be more fun? Getting to kiss you whenever I want."

"Don't make me break up with you."

"Rude. I haven't broken up with you despite your mullet!"

"Please. You love my hair. You're always touching it every chance you get."

Lance giggled and reached for Keith's shirt when a knock made them both freeze. They looked at each other in panic, until they remembered they weren't keeping this a secret anymore. With a wink, Lance rolled off to let Keith answer the door.

Keith opened up to find a nervous-looking Shiro. "Do you even know what time it is," he asked.

"I need to talk to you," Shiro replied. "Is now a bad time?"

Concern for his friend trumped the need to get back to bed, back to _Lance_. "Nah, it's alright." Keith was about to ask what was up when Lance's warmth encircled him, arm around his waist pulling him away from the door.

Lance asked Shiro if he could wait until the morning, and Keith would've been mortified it wasn't for Shiro's priceless look of shock.

Keith rolled his eyes, thought 'fuck it,' and leaned back into Lance's loose embrace, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. He waited patiently for Shiro's official response.

"I have so many questions." There it was.

"I'll see you in the morning Shiro." Now assured his friend wasn't in trouble, Keith stepped back into his room. "Good night."

Shiro only nodded wearily, as Keith started to close the door.

Still wrapped around Keith, Lance called out, tone teasing, "Oh, and next time you decide to play matchmaker, make sure the people you're trying to get together aren't actually, you know, _together_!"

Keith didn't get to see Shiro's response because the door slid shut, so he turned to Lance instead. "You're unbelievable!"

"You're hot," Lance shot back.

Keith only had a moment to wonder when Lance got this smooth, before a glance at his blush told Keith it had just been lucky word vomit. Shaking his head, he shoved at his _official_ boyfriend. Lance shoved back, and the two tumbled into bed, Keith reaching behind his head to properly remove his shirt this time.


End file.
